The meeting took place at the NatWest Group Business School in Edinburgh on the margins of GEFI’s Ethical Finance Global 2022 summit. The meeting commenced with opening remarks from Taskforce Chair, David Pitt-Watson, followed by an introduction of new Scottish Taskforce members; Aegon Asset Management and Franklin Templeton.

With no formal presentations on the agenda, the Secretariat provided an update on the progress being made on each of the 4 workstreams as agreed at the previous meeting.

KEY DISCUSSION POINTS

1. Education, Training, Qualifications and Research (ETQR)

ETQR continues to enable and offer the possibility of being an area of strength for Scotland. An ETQR working group has been established and following a series of meetings and a workshop, there is now a more concrete plan on next steps to be taken to build upon Scotland’s position relative to its growing workforce. The working group will continue to engage with Scottish Financial Enterprise to ensure that efforts are complementary. Finally, it was noted that GEFI has produced and published a short brochure on ETQR opportunities in Scotland, with an overview of the top programs and qualifications that are active in Scotland.

2. Investigating and Developing the Domestic Market

There continues to be a gap between investors and investible projects. With a recognised need for an open discussion between what the finance industry and project originators in Scotland. A working group will therefore be established to bring relevant stakeholders together to:

  • Explore the process for identifying and pre-qualifying prospective investable projects in Scotland
  • Understand green and sustainability-linked investment mandates/initiatives for Scotland (and elsewhere)
  • Identify gap is between green investible projects and investors and create solutions on how to close it

3. Mapping and Positioning

There is a general sense that Scotland has a lot to offer in promoting green and sustainable finance and Taskforce efforts will focus on:

  • Engaging with Financial Centres for Sustainability and monitoring rankings on the Z/Yen’s Global Green Finance Index
  • Developing a consistent narrative to position Scotland’s green and sustainable finance offering
  • Mapping Scotland’s responsible investment landscape
  • Engaging with GFANZ to explore Scotland’s role in supporting implementation the role of finance in the NZ transition.

4. Product Innovation: Natural Capital

 A working group is to be established to explore opportunities for Scotland to create tangible evidence-based data and projects to further the goal of Scotland being a global leader in carbon offsets (aligned with UK Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum).